On 14 to 17 November 2011 ERTICO – ITS Europe and the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) organised the first Interoperability testing event for Cooperative Mobility Services hosted by TNO in Helmond (NL). Fifteen companies and research institutes participated in this week of intensive testing and demonstrations 5 days which could very well be the starting point of a new phase towards the deployment of cooperative systems.

Fifty-two participants fifteen companies and research institutes from all over the world arrived on 14 November at the High Tech Automotive Campus Helmond (NL) at the TNO premises for a week of interoperability testing of their ITS implementations. After only a couple of hours the open workspace had been turned into a testing laboratory where computers ITS units and antennas were connected by a multitude of cables.

After half a day of set-up the go-ahead was given by the organising team (above): Sebastian Müller (right) from the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) the Technical Coordinator of the Plugtests together with François Fischer (left) from ERTICO – ITS Europe and Sander Maas (middle) from TNO the host of the Plugtests in the name of the Dutch Integrated Testsite Cooperative Mobility.

It meant for the participants a green light to start the test sessions. Throughout the week the interoperability of the transport and networking layers of the ITS implementations was to be tested. In practice it meant that company A and company B would install their ITS units in a face to face configuration and simulate a number of scenarios implying a communication between the two units. For each scenario the two companies monitored the behaviour of their units and made sure that they were following the test specifications.

Below Peek/TNO and Cohda during a test session.

Some test sessions happened under the umbrella of important European projects such as DRIVE C2X and eCoMove. It was for their partners an important milestone to ensure the interoperability of the ITS units inside a project as well as between the two projects.

The week was also the opportunity for the participants to test the conformance test developed and installed on the spot by ETSI team. In the pictures below Honda is executing the conformance test.

CTAG – the Galician Automotive Technology Centre – who joined the Plugtests with the cooperative ITS units developed in the context of the SISCOGA project performed a demonstration of their accident use case which raised a high interest amongst the Plugtest participants.
 
A final test session nicknamed “all on the air” concluded the week of the interop event: instead of sending radio messages through cables in the face to face configuration the participants were asked to send their messages over the air and at the same time. A good test to visualise the behaviour of the ITS implementations when several devices are emitting.

This article is based on the ERTICO live blog of the Plugtests.

For more information please contact: Sébastien Mure.

*** On 17 November 2011 the co-organisers of the Plugtests ERTICO – ITS Europe ETSI and the host TNO invited the ITS community to attend a workshop aimed at presenting to a wide audience the importance of Interoperability events for the deployment of cooperative systems. Some early results of the Plugtests were also presented.

A round table discussion chaired by Maxime Flament was organised to discuss the needs of the ITS community in terms of interoperability testing as well as conformance and performance testing.

Above: Maxime Flament (ERTICO – ITS Europe) with Phil Pettitt (innovITS) Amira Horozovic (Honda R&D Europe) Igor Passchier (TNO) and Gérard Segarra (Renault).

After the theory on Plugtests the workshop participants were invited to visit the testing room to discover in a more practical way what Plugtests look like. It was also an opportunity for them to discuss with the participants.
 
This important day was concluded by a networking cocktail where a crowd of more than 80 people could further exchange on the topic.

Link to original Article

http://www.ertico.com/the-first-interoperability-testing-event-for-cooperative-systems-unfolds/

Original Publication Date: Mon 28 Nov 2011